Leah Anderson
by summerbreezeplease
Summary: Leah moves to town, and she and Cary HATE each other! But when Cary has a secret revealed, will they become friends? NO PAIRINGS god sorry i hate OCs normally. so leah DEFINETLY won't be finding love. SORRY SUCKY SUMMARY read if you please! Warning: Rated T for swears and abuse
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone (well if anyone is reading this... idk) well this is my first fanfiction! I love super 8 and was quite sad that there weren't more fanfictions about it here :'(**

**anyhoo, i hope you like my story. And I realize now that there may be another fanfiction with an OC named Leah, so sorry! i swear i didn't take you're character.**

**please read!**

Leah sat stiffly on the couch, feeling extremely awkward. She had just moved from California, leaving it's sun, sand and ocean for small-town Lillian, North Carolina, with it's, well, small-townness. And now she was on her neighbors couch, just a week into living here, because a lady, her mom's old childhood friend, had died. Of course Leah felt sympathy for whoever was connected to her, but because Leah didn't know her, she didn't feel too sad.

Leah wasn't used to being alone. Back in California, everywhere Leah had gone, one of her friends had been with her.

She crossed her legs, smoothing her short black mourning dress and adjusting her heels, which were really killing her feet. She looked around for her mother, hoping that they could leave soon, but she didn't see her, and she didn't want to go find her and ask to leave, because that would be rude.

A group of boys suddenly moved in, standing at the table that was a bit off to the right of Leah. She glanced at them, interested – they looked her age, but she didn't think that they even noticed her. They were staring out the window, where Leah noticed another boy was sitting on a swing.

Leah, with nothing else to do, listening to their soft conversation. She wasn't sure who was talking, because their backs were too her, but they all seemed to definetly be friends.

"I bet he won't want to do my movie now," one boy said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…the walking dead…"

"His mom isn't a zombie!"

"Yeah, but she's dead, shit head!"

"Guys, do you wonder what they put in the coffin?"

"Ew! No! I'm eating macaroni salad!"

"How can you eat right now?"

"Crushed by a steel beam… those things weigh a ton, literally."

"Try a turkey roll, you'll see."

They paused, going silent. One boy, who was noticeably shorter than the others, with shaggy blonde hair, grabbed something off the table.

"These turkey rolls are pretty good."

"Told you."

Leah was about to get up and introduce herself – why not? – when a loud commotion distracted her, as well as the four boys.

"Get out. Get out!"

"Jack, please, I just want to-"

The voice was cut off as Leah watched a man, who's eyes were hardened with hatred and sadness, push another man, with greasy long blonde hair and sideburns out the door. Leah noticed with interest that his hands were handcuffed behind his back. What had happened?

"Joe, I'll be back," Leah heard the voice, fainter now, call outside. The boy on the swing looked up, not saying anything, as a police cruiser pulled away.

Leah stood up as the boys wandered towards a window, their murmurs indistinctive now. Leah checked a clock on the wall – she had been here for half an hour, and hadn't talked to anyone except for a few adults that her mom had introduced her too. She decided that it was time to leave. Besides, her house was on this neighborhood. She could easily walk home.

She reached for the door, about to pull it open, when something stopped her.

"Hey, that's the new girl, right?"

"Oh yeah! What's her name?"

""Um, Leah, I think."

"Should we say hi?"

"No, it looks like she's leaving now."

"I don't care, she sits next to me in biology. Leah! Leah, hi!"

Leah bit her lip, suppressing a smile, and spun on her heel, facing the four boys. The boy who had said hi to her, Charles, was her partner in biology.

"Hi Charles," she said, glancing at the other three boys. She had recognized them, but not well enough to match their faces to their names.

"Oh, um, guys, this is Leah. Leah, this is Preston, Cary and Martin." The boys smiled and mumbled hi. Leah did the same.

"Oh, and outside is Joe," Charles added.

The boy named Cary, who was the shortest of them all, leaned in. "His mom died." The way his eyes lit up – not nesecairly in an excited way, just a…strange way – made Leah feel wary of him. He was anxiously drumming his fingers, tapping his feet – he just couldn't stay still.

Leah wasn't sure how to respond to that. "That's terrible." She decided on. The boys just nodded.

"Leah? Honey? Where are you?" Leah turned around, and saw her mother pushing her way through the crowd, looking for her.

"Right here!" Leah called back, and her mother stopped infront of her.

"We're going," she said. Then she noticed the boys. "Oh, hell boys. I'm Mrs. Anderson, Leah's mom."

The boys chorused hellos. Leah's mom turned to Leah. "Come on, time to go." She headed towards the door, and Leah followed.

"Bye!" Charles said, while the others waved. Leah smiled.

"See you around!" She said before following her mother.


	2. Chapter 2 - Leah

CHAPTER ONE - Leah

FOUR MONTHS LATER

Leah smiled in spite of herself as she stepped out of Lillian Middle School for the last time that year. The sun was warm on her face, and she didn't even mind as she was pushed and shoved as other kids flowed out of the school. Usually, she would have punched them straight in the face, but not today. Not on the first day of summer vacation.

"Leah! Hey, Leah!" Leah turned around as one of her close friends, Annabelle ran to catch up with her. Annabelle had been in every one of Leah's classes when she moved to Lillian, and they had immediately become closer than sisters. Still, Leah had to admit that Annabelle was kind of a ditz.

"Well, this is exciting," Annabelle exclaimed, throwing her long blonde hair over her shoulder and grinning madly. "School sucks."

"I agree," Leah agreed as she spotted two of her other friends, Charles Kazyneck and Joe Lamb walking up ahead. She quickened her pace, Annabelle rushing behind her.

"Hey, Leah. Hey, Annabelle." Charles said, sounding distracted as Joe quickly nodded to acknowledge their presence. In his hands was a green notebook. Leah quickly leaned over to see what it was while Annabelle blabbered on about math class, with nobody really listening.

"Detective Hathaway has a wife now?" Joe said, sounding incredulous.

"New scenes," Charles explained at Leah's confused look. "And yeah, dumbass."

Leah felt bad for Martin. He didn't need the stress of more lines.

"Who is it?" Joe asked as Cary came running over, much to Leah's displeasure. Over the past four months, her uneasiness around Cary had grown to tremendous levels, and it didn't help that he was a pyromaniac. Because of Leah's hatred for him, Cary had begun to hate her back. On the other hand, Annabelle, who had grown up with the boys all her life, was best friends with Cary. Leah just didn't understand it.

"Guys! Martin barfed all over his locker! It was the grossest one yet! I've never seen so many colors!"

Leah rolled her eyes. Cary was so immature. She recalled, about a month or two ago, when in English, they had been paired together for a project. They were both supposed to do an _equal amount of work_, but Cary always insisted that they go to _her _house, use _her _materials and _her _ideas.

"God, Cary, shut up!" Charles yelled while Annabelle cracked up. Leah couldn't help but agree with Charles.

"Who's the wife?" Joe repeated. Cary looked confused, so Charles explained how he had added new scenes. "Is it Jen?"

"What? God, no. You remember what she did with my top hat. It's Alice Dainard," he said as they stopped by a gumball machine. Joe had stopped walking, but he ran to catch up.

"Alice Dainard?" He exclaimed, sounding breathless. Leah knew Alice alright – she had seen her around school, normally with a book, but they had never really talked. Unless you included the time Leah tripped and knocked her to the ground.

"Yeah," Charles said. "I was in the silent section, returning the book on codes and censors, and she was there, so I asked her and she said yes. She's driving."

"You talked to Alice Dainard?" Joe said, still not believing it.

"Driving where?" Leah asked.

"Charles!" Cary exclaimed, looking mock-horrified. "You're not supposed to talk in the silent reading section! It's for _silent reading_!"

"Shut up," Charles said, exasperated, as the group entered the candy shop.

"So, remember, tonight outside my house," Charles reminded Leah for the umpteenth time. "That's where Alice is picking up."

"I know, I know," Leah said, exasperated. She, Charles and Cary were walking home. Annabelle's house was in the opposite direction, and they had already passed Joe's house. Charles's house was nearing, so soon it would be just Leah and Cary, her least favorite part of the walk.

"God, Charles, she knows," Cary said.

"Shut up," Leah said, even though Cary hadn't said anything insulting. He stuck his tongue out at her, infuriating her even more.

"Gotta go," Charles said, heading up his driveway. Cary and Leah waved goodbye before continuing their trek.

They walked in silence for a bit before Leah said, for no reason, "Shut up." She had deluded herself into believing that Cary had been silently laughing at her, but she couldn't figure out why, and it had irritated her to the point of yelling at him.

"For what?" Cary said, sounding bored.

"You're laughing at me."

"No I'm not. You're not funny enough to laugh at."

"Shut up, dick."

"Why are you such a bitch?"

"Excuse me?"

"Excuse you?" Cary said. "I was just walking here, minding my own business, when you tell me to shut up for no reason, then call me a dick. I think that qualifies you for a bitch."

"God, you're _so _immature!" Leah fumed.

"Don't make me light you're hair on fire!" Cary warned. "I will do it!"

"God, Cary. You're such a little prick."

"Well, sorry." He said sarcastically. Leah was so mad she started seeing red, but she couldn't figure out why she hated this kid so much. What had he done that made her hate him?

"God Cary. You're impossible."

Cary threw his hands up into the air, exasperated. "_I'm _impossible? Why are we even talking? It's obvious that you hate me!"

Leah turned around and shoved Cary, making him stumble a few steps back. His face looked shocked for a second before it masked over into a calm, cool face. Leah felt kind of bad, but Cary deserved it.

"I thought you used to by a gymnast," he said. "Aren't gymnast's strong? That was a pretty weak push."

"I still am a gymnast!" Leah protested. "I bet you can't even do a cartwheel, Cary. And how do you know that was a weak push? You've never been pushed before!"

Cary fell silent after that comment. Leah thought she had finally gotten to him, and she whipped around, pulling her long brown hair over her shoulder, but he retorted, "I can do a cartwheel. And, Leah…" he stopped, as if looking for words. "Just don't. Don't talk to me about that."

Leah was pretty sure that was the first time Cary had used her name since they had met. "What do you mean?" She asked harshly, turning around, but Cary was already heading up his lawn. Leah watched him go, still confused. "Talk to you about what?" She called, but he just shook his head. Leah glared at the back of his head. His house was big, but definitely falling into a state of dis-repair. The windows were dirty, the lawn was all weeds, and the paint was peeling. Cary turned around just before entering, his face nervous, though Leah couldn't guess why. Then he saw Leah watching, and his face hardened and he pushed the door open, closing it slowly behind him.

Leah shook her head in confusion, slowly walking to her home, which was conveniently placed directly next to Cary's. Her mom wasn't home yet, so she dropped her backpack, grabbed a banana and went up to her room, waiting for when the time to meet Annabelle and the boys outside Charles's house would come.


	3. Chapter 3 - Cary

**Hey! Yeah so thank you for my (one) review :) you know who you are :P**

**so not sure if I really like this chapter... OH WELL**

**NOTE: there will be the train crash but NO ALIEN in this story!**

CHAPTER TWO – Cary

Cary's mind was still buzzing with annoyance at his interaction with Leah – she annoyed the shit out of him, how she thought that she was so much better and cooler than he was. He didn't understand how the guys could like her. Her little comment about not getting pushed bothered him especially. He was _always_ getting pushed.

The house was dark, but Cary was used to that. He headed into the kitchen, stepping lightly, and reached his hand around the wall to turn on a light.

"Turn that off." Cary almost screamed – the voice that had snuck up on him had scared the hell out of him.

"Sorry," Cary said quickly, flicking the light off. He knew that it was his dad who had said that, but he couldn't see him in the darkness, and his dad said nothing more to give away his whereabouts.

Deciding to play it safe, Cary headed in the direction of the stairs, intending on locking himself in his room until night came. His eyes narrowed as he cautiously stepped around the area that was known to squeak, thinking of how he had to see fucking Leah tonight. It would be alright if she didn't have to help them, but apparently she had 'good filming techniques' and Charles wanted her to be his apprentice.

As Cary mindlessly stepped through a doorway, a force out of no where grabbed his neck and pinned him against the wall, putting unimaginable pressure on his throat. His head slammed into the wall with a resounding _crack _and Cary's brain struggled to comprehend what was happening, trying to breathe, when a light was flicked on and it all made sense. His dad had grabbed his throat and pushed him against the wall.

"Where did you think you were going?" His dad growled, his breath stinking of alcohol. Cary gagged, trying to get air as black spots danced in his vision. The pounding in his head was muted to a dull throb.

"I asked you a question," his dad snarled, landing a blow in Cary's stomach. Cary fell limp in his father's grip, the air knocked out of him. He was suddenly dropped to the ground, the pressure gone from his throat. He focused on taking deep breaths, his eyes closed, as he heard his father step around him and walk away.

When he felt strong enough, Cary pulled himself up and climbed up the stairs, heading towards the bathroom. He dropped his backpack full of cherry bombs and fireworks by his bedroom and closed the bathroom door behind him, locking it.

Cary sat down on the toilet seat, lifting up his shirt to examine his possible bruises. Since it was in the stomach, there was only a faint bruise, but other cuts and black-and-blues dotted his body. Cary let his shirt fall back and placed his head in his hands, disgusted.

Next, he stood in front of the mirror, massaging his sore neck. There were large, ugly green and purple marks where his dad had grabbed his throat. He sighed, knowing that he would have to wear a turtleneck. And god, did he _hate _turtlenecks. Well, it would be dark. Maybe he could get away with just a hoodie.

Cary headed back to his room, quickly locking the door behind him. He had nothing to do – since school was out, he had no homework, not that he did it often. Instead, Cary contented himself with rolling home-made M-80s. It always calmed him down, when his father hit him. He imagined rolling them, planting them around the house and BOOM! His father would no longer bother him.

Cary glanced around his room. Dust filtered through the mid-afternoon light, as the light bulb had gone out long ago, but Cary didn't have the nerve to tell his father or the money to buy a new one.

A pile of old, dirty clothes lay in the corner, and Cary reminded himself to do his laundry sometime soon.

His bed lay, unmade, and his open backpack full of cherry bombs, sparklers, and M-80s.

As Cary began rolling his fourth M-80 while simultaneously checking that his favorite silver lighter was in his pocket, a huge crash resounded through the house. Startled, Cary accidentally messed up, and the M-80 went off. Luckily, Cary pulled his arms over his face, so he was unhurt, apart from his sleeves.

Unluckily, his dad heard the bomb too. Panicking, Cary could hear him stomping up the stairs. Quickly, Cary locked the door and grabbed his backpack, running towards the window. Screw if dumb old Leah would see him drop from a two-story window – he would rather she think he was even more of a freak than get murdured by his father.

"Cary!" His dad roared, and the door flew open. So much for the lock.

Heart pounding, Cary lunged for the window, but his dad grabbed his arm and violently yanked him back. Cary cried out as he heard something pop.

His father held Cary's wrist in a vice-like grip, seeming oblivious to Cary's attempts to free himself. "Were you making more bombs?" He growled, his voice low and threatening. Cary felt himself grow cold.

"N-no."

His father narrowed his eyes. "You better not be lying to me," he threatened. Cary shook his head violently, wincing as the grip on his wrist tightened.

"Well…" his father said slowly. "To keep you from hurting yourself by making more…" Cary's eyes widened as his father grabbed his finger with his other hand, pulling back.

"Stop!" Cary screamed as his father grinned, pulling his finger further back. "STOP!" It was no use. Cary screamed in pain as his finger snapped, lying horribly mangled. His father repeated the process with each finger on Cary's right hand, but thankfully, he didn't move to his left.

"There," his father said, dropping Cary's wrist. It landed with a thud on the floor – Cary's body had gone limp long ago.

His father left the room, leaving Cary to stare at his mangled hand. Ashamed, he began to cry, silently – _damn_, he didn't want to cry. He was Cary. He could handle it.

With a groan, he pulled himself up using his good hand, cradling the other one. He stumbled into the bathroom and pulled the door closed behind him.

Cary opened the medicine cabinet and pulled down three things – an old ace bandage, medical tape and a washcloth.

Cary pulled back the shower curtain and collapsed into the bathtub, his breathing short and quick. He refused to look at his hand – hell, there, he did it. Happy, Cary? He thought to himself bitterly. His fingers were curled and twisted at unnatural angles. Swallowing nausea, he placed the washcloth in his mouth, ready to bite down.

Cringing in pain, Cary felt at his mangled fingers. He grabbed his index finger, preparing himself to set it. He bit down hard, tears squeezing out of his eyes as he pulled it into place. The pain was unimaginable, and he had four more to do. On the second, he was full out crying, and by the fifth, he was amazed he hadn't passed out.

Quickly, he wrapped it in medical tape and wound the ace bandage around it. He just didn't want to see it anymore.

Cary ground his teeth. His fucking father. Why did Cary deserve this? Why? He was done. So done. The bruises at his throat were still prominent, but Cary didn't give a shit as he grabbed his backpack, his lighter and his jacket and swung out the window.


	4. Chapter 4 - Leah

**Hey anyone and everyone!**

**Sorry i haven't updated, i know how annoying it is waiting for someone too :P but this is part one of chapter 3 ... don't get too excited nothing major happens but i haven't finished part 2 and i just wanted to get this out there :P ENJOY BECAUSE I MADE THIS FOR YOU!**

Leah was lounging on her bed, legs crossed, reading Seventeen magazine. It had recently come out and she couldn't be more excited about it.

Suddenly, a scream, faint but definitely there, pierced the air. Leah sat straight up, heart beat quickening. The scream came again, hoarser, and Leah ran to the window, peering out. All she could see was Cary's house, which was dark as usual. No more screams followed, so she wondered to herself whether she imagined it. Probably. With a jolt, she pulled herself away from the window. What if Cary was looking out his and he thought that she was watching him?

Still, she didn't leave the window for quite some time, kneeling with her knees pressed up against the radiator, head just peeking out. Just as she was about to go back to her magazine, something in Cary's window caught her eye. She shrank back, thinking it was him looking out the window, but no – he was… climbing out the window? Leah watched in confusion as he took a breath to steady himself, then jumped, landing with a bit of unsteadiness. She gasped. What the hell was he doing? Why wouldn't he just leave the front door, like a normal person? Her eye's narrowed as she noticed that his hand was wrapped in an ace bandage – it definitely hadn't been when they were walking home together. She shook her head in confusion as Cary glanced back at the house before jumping onto his bike and taking off, heading god-knows-where.

Instead of infatuating herself with the life of infuriating Cary, Leah turned to her dresser, wondering what to wear to Charles's filming production. It wasn't like she was going to be in it, so she didn't need to dress up, but she definitely couldn't wear her school clothes.

Slipping out of her blouse and skirt, she quickly changed into a high-wasted pair of black shorts and a white, loose-fitted tank top advertising some boy band. Then she slipped on a gray cardigan and her navy converse.

With nothing else to do, Leah headed downstairs, prepared to go over on a surprise visit to Joe's. She hadn't spent any alone time with him recently, and she wasn't in the mood for dealing for Charles's family or Martin's puking or Preston's… preston-ness. Besides, Cary was gone and she wouldn't even go over if it were a life or death situation.

After she had written a note to her mother explaining where she was and where she would be, Leah pulled the front door open only to find Annabelle about to knock.

Annabelle's face broke into a smile. She was wearing a white shirt as well, though it was tight fitted and showed a lot of her belly, and hot-rod red short shorts. Her long blonde hair was pulled back with a light yellow headband. She noticed Leah staring and spun around.

"How do I look?"

"Good!" Leah exclaimed. "Wow. Really good."

Annabelle smiled. "Thank you! You look great too."

Leah smiled. "So, what were you doing here?"

Annabelle's blue eyes widened. "Oh, I totally forgot! Charles called and said that he wants you and me to be in the movie!"

Leah stared doubtfully at Annabelle, who's face was lit up with excitement.

"Did he now," Leah said flatly. Annabelle nodded. "Well, why wouldn't he have called _me_?"

Annabelle shrugged, stepping inside Leah's house. "Doesn't have your number, maybe." Leah found that doubtful – in biology, they had to exchange phone numbers with their partner for labs and such.

"Um, Annabelle, I'm not going to be in the movie," Leah said as Annabelle bent down in front of a mirror, pinching her cheeks to get some color in them. Annabelle whirled around.

"Leah! You have too!" Then she narrowed her eyes. "You're not even wearing any makeup!" Leah shrugged – she rarely did. Annabelle looked horrified and grabbed Leah's arm, pulling her in the direction of Leah's room. "Come on. I'm going to make you _stunning_."

About an hour later, Annabelle let Leah go look in a mirror. Her eyes had been poked numerous times from when Annabelle was attempting to put eyeliner on Leah, and Leah had twitched.

Leah stared into the mirror, confused. Her eyelashes weren't that long, and her eyelids weren't that sparkly, and her lips weren't that red, and her cheek's weren't that pink. But she had to admit, Annabelle did a _good _job.

"Wow," she said softly while Annabelle grinned, grabbing the magazine and collapsing onto Leah's bed. "Annabelle, it's amazing!"

"I know," Annabelle acknowledged, throwing the magazine down without looking at it. "Now, come on. We should make dinner."


	5. Chapter 5 - Leah

**Yay i finshed! Not sure if anyone is even reading this... OH WELL! a review would be nice those warm my heart :) so yeah read it! And an update may take a while, because i just used all my creative juices writing this...**

Leah giggled as she playfully pushed Annabelle, who was doubled over laughing. It was dark, but warm, and Leah had pulled her hair into a bun. Annabelle had left hers down.

"St-stop," she laughed as Annabelle ran up behind her and grabbed her sides, squeezing them to the point of unbearable tickleness.

The two girls stumbled under a streetlight, and they could suddenly see where they were – two houses down from Charles's. Leah could make out the figures of five boys. She could faintly hear them singing loudly and playing air guitar. Quickly, she shouted, "Race you!" Before taking off down the road. She could hear Annabelle giggling, running behind her.

Gasping because she had been laughing the whole time, Leah stopped in front of the boys and threw her hands up in the air in triumph. "Ta da!" She announced as Annabelle, who had finished mere seconds after her _and_ was wearing heels, playfully said, "Bitch!"

"Leah, Annabelle, glad you could make it," Charles said.

"Wow, Charles, no need to sound so formal," Annabelle said, dropping down between him and Preston, who immediately moved over to make room for her. Leah sat next to Joe, who was silently eating some twizzlers.

"So, does anyone understand why I need more lines?" Martin groaned.

"No, I think that's just you, Smartin," Cary said.

"Cary, shut up! Why do you have to call me that?"

"Oh, Cary, I tried to call you to tell you to bring some extra film, in case I ran out, but nobody answered."

I leaned over in interest, wondering what Cary's response would be. Offhandedly, he answered, "Oh, really? I was home – I guess I just didn't hear the phone ring."

"You weren't home!" I butted in. "I saw you climb out you're window."

"What?" Preston exclaimed. "Cary, that's, like, the number one way to commit suicide!"

"Cary, you're not suicidal, are you?" Annabelle gasped.

"What?" Cary exclaimed. "No! I don't know what Leah's talking about, because I was home the whole day."

"Dude, what happened to you're hand?" Joe exclaimed while Leah announced, "No, I'm actually positive that I saw you jump out you're window. Unless you have a twin brother?"

"God, Leah, just shut up. Obviously you were high on something, because I didn't leave my house." Cary said, promptly ignoring Joe's question.

"Cary, don't be such a dick," Leah snarled.

"Leah, just stay out of it."

"God, can you guys just be around each other for _two seconds _without arguing?"

"No," Leah and Cary said in unison, glaring at each other.

"Cary, what actually happened to you're hand?" Joe repeated.

Cary looked down at his hand in surprise, and quickly pulled his sleeve over it. "Oh, um…" he rolled his eyes. "I fell on it weird when I 'jumped out my window,' as Leah put it."

"So you actually did?" Martini cried.

"Dude, what the hell?" Charles yelled while Annabelle made hyristical noises.

"God!" Cary exclaimed. "I was kidding! I fell on it on my way over here."

"Are you sure?" Preston questioned.

"God!" Cary repeated. "Yes!"

The group fell into silence. Joe offered Leah a twizzler, and she stonily grabbed it, still pissed about Cary saying she took drugs.

"So…" Annabelle said, trying and failing to start a conversation.

"When the hell is Alice getting here?" Charles exclaimed suddenly.

"Dude, don't be so harsh. Maybe she couldn't get the car as early as she said," Joe assured him.

"Or maybe she's not coming," Preston said matter-of-factly.

"Preston! Shut up!" Charles said hoarsely.

Just then, headlights in the distance came into view, slowly and steadily getting bigger before pulling to a stop in front of the group. The car was slender and yellow, and the window rolled down to reveal Alice's face.

"Hey, Alice," Charles said.

"Allie! Hey!" Annabelle exclaimed, jumping up. Alice grinned at her before her eyes settled on Joe.

"Who's that?" She asked pointedly.

"Um… Joe Lamb," Joe answered uncertainly.

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"Lights, makeup, costume…" Charles answered.

"He's the deputy's boy."

Joe grinned. "You knew that?"

"Is that a problem?" Charles asked.

"Charles! God! I don't have my license!" Alice growled.

Joe's smile faded. "I can go…"

"No, he's already seen me in the car! God, I knew this was a bad idea."

"Alice," Joe said seriously. "I promise that I won't tell anyone. I promise."

Alice stared at him, eyes narrowed, before huffing, "Fine. Get in."

Joe's smile returned as they piled into the car. Leah got wedged between Annabelle and Martin. Cary and Charles were on Annabelle's side, and sitting in the front was Preston. Joe, Leah realized, was pretty much under Cary.

The ride to the train station – Charles had finally explained where he planned on filming the scene – was unbearably long, and Leah began to sweat profusely, with Annabelle's and Martin's hot, sweaty bodies pressed against hers.

"God, can we open a window in here?" She begged, and as a response, Alice rolled down the window nearest to her.

"Why? Feeling _hot_?" Cary snickered.

"God, Cary, don't be so immature," Leah said, settling with her usual comeback for whenever Cary said something.

Leah watched as Joe handed Alice a twizzler. After a few seconds, she grudgingly grabbed it, and Joe smiled. Leah laughed to herself.

The car rolled to a stop.

"Why are we stopping?" Martin asked, sounding panicked.

"I don't know, Smartin," Cary said sarcastically, jumping out of the car. "Maybe because we're _here_."

"Shut up, Cary," Martin protested, climbing out after him. Leah hauled herself out too, cutting off Joe, who protested with a "hey!"

"Guys, there's an electrical outlet over here," Leah heard Charles say as she gazed around. They were at a train station – the actual station part was lit up, but abandoned. Evidentially, nobody was catching a midnight train.

"God, this is so exciting!" Annabelle gasped, jumping next to Leah. "I love summer."

Leah looked at her curiously, smiling, before shaking her head and following the group up to the station, where Charles immediately began ordering people around and setting things up.

"This is kind of creepy," Alice remarked before Joe grabbed her and pulled her away to do her makeup.

Leah stood in the background, observing as Charles yelled at everyone, telling them what to do. Annabelle hadn't lied – she was playing an extra waiting for the train. Charles had asked Leah to be in it too, but she had declined. Her serene watching was interrupted as loud shrieks of explosions pierced the air.

"Jesus!" Charles yelled as Leah turned her head to the source of the noise. She wasn't surprised to see that it was Cary, blowing up some firecrackers. "Can't you stop blowing shit up?"

"Dude, sorry," Cary apologized, grinning, as Preston, who was adjusting the camera lens, said, "Cary, and I'm saying this as a friend, your obsession with fire concerns me… and my mother." Leah rolled her eyes. Preston was skittish around fire.

"Alright, Alice," Leah heard Charles say, "You say –"

"Charles, I know. I read the lines," Alice snapped.

"God, sorry – just trying to direct."

Leah stared off in boredom as Martin and Alice rehearsed their lines – if it wasn't the real thing, it wasn't worth watching. Preston entered the scene and began speaking into a telephone, and Annabelle stood off to the side, bounding slightly in excitement, her scandalous outfit covered with a long overcoat.

About a minute into the practice, Leah realized that everyone was staring at Alice, who seemed to be doing a freaking amazing job at acting. Preston had put the telephone down, and Annabelle was staring. Joe, Charles and Cary were watching, eyes wide, and Martin was actually crying.

Leah didn't understand acting – she only liked being behind the camera, and capturing good angles and moments. Charles seemed more concerned about the performance – Leah couldn't care less, as long as it was visually enticing. That was why she and Charles made such a good team.

"Wow…" Charles whispered as Martin and Alice finished. "That was amazing."

In the distance, a train whistle blew, jolting everyone out of their trances. Charles ran to the edge of the platform, then turned around, screeching, "PRODUCTION VALUE! Guys, we're going to do it again – just be sure to speak extra loud when the train goes by – Cary, did you put the film in?"

"What? No!" Cary yelled.

"WHAT? Do it now! Guys, get into position! Oh, I hope we don't miss it!"

There was a flurry of activity – Annabelle and Preston getting ready to walk onto the screen, Alice fixing her hair, Martin shouting that he didn't know his lines. Cary fumbled with the tape, exclaiming, "I can't do it with my hand!" Leah grabbed the camera, shoving Cary out of the way, and inserted the tape while Joe prepared the microphone.

"Leah, start it!" Charles, who was still on the other side of the platform, yelled. "Martin, Alice, be ready!"

Leah obediently started rolling as Charles hurried over, throwing the headphones on. Alice and Martin began, Preston walked in behind them, and Annabelle did the same a few seconds after. From what she could hear, which wasn't much considering Charles was wearing the headphones, Alice _was _a good actor. She portrayed real emotion – something Leah would find impossible to do on screen. She would either be laughing uncontrollably or totally monotone.

As the train got nearer, Alice had to yell. The wind whipped everyone's hair in his or her face, and Leah was glad hers was in a bun. Annabelle, on the other hand, looked like a rat's nest.

Out of the corner of her eye, Leah noticed Joe turning to look at something as the train whizzed by, she followed his gaze, and went numb with shock as she saw an old blue pickup truck turn onto the tracks and rattle it's way defiantly towards the oncoming train. What was happening? Her eye's widened as the two vehicles came closer and closer to impact – she couldn't look away –

"LOOK OUT!" Joe shouted!

"Joe, what the hell-" Charles growled, turning on him before falling speechless. The train slammed right into the truck, and the effect was monumental.

There was a huge explosion, and the entire train seemed to suddenly get derailed, whole train cars whizzing through the air and slamming into the ground. Leah stood where she was, shocked to the core.

"Oh, my GOD!" Cary screamed.

"RUN!" Someone shouted, and everyone took off. Someone grabbed her hand as a flaming hunk of metal went flying by up ahead, and Leah screamed, dropping the camera and following whoever had grabbed her.

"ALICE!" She heard Joe shout, but she didn't turn around to see what had happened. The person who had grabbed her – it was Charles, she noticed – tugged her along, a train car smashing into the ground where they had just been standing. The air was thick with smoke, and Leah couldn't see anything, though there were fires burning everywhere. Metal sailed by overhead, and she ripped her arm from Charles's grip to cover her head. She inhaled the smoke and immidiatley started coughing. She collapsed to the ground, curling in on herself, her hands protectively covering her head. She didn't see anyone, anything. All she knew was that she was very, very afraid.

**Well... not sure if i liked that description of the train wreck. Sorry - i know that the lines are off from the movie but thats because (a)i haven't seen the movie too recently and (b) no one actually wants to read the entire movie unless they do a good job, and i wouldn't do a good job.**

**Reveiw please? i mean, if no one is reading this then why would i make another chapter you know?**


	6. Chapter 6 - Cary

**Hey guys, sorry I took so long to update. Thank you to my 2 followers who may or may not be reading this. Thank you Ellietigerwolf who inspired me to update!**

Chapter 4 –CARY

Cary shook his head at his luck, which just seemed to be getting better and better. One minute, they were watching Martin and Alice preform amazingly, the next, the air was full of flaming debris, and they were running for their fucking _lives_.

Cary was pretty pissed. Couldn't his life just work out for _once_?

He took off after three people – Charles, Joe and Leah. At least, that's who he thought they were – it was hard to tell in all the smoke. He had no idea where he was going and no idea what was going to happen. Someone faintly cried hoarsely, "I don't want to die!"

_Probably Martin_, Cary speculated.

His heart was pounding a million miles an hour, and the air was full of smoke. The three people he had been following had disappeared, but he continued running, not knowing what else to do.

A flaming chunk of metal whizzed through the air, landing with a tremendous thud on the ground merely feet in front of Cary, sending up chunks of dirt. Cary skidded to a stop, staring at in awe. As scary as it was, he had to admit that the fire and explosions were pretty awesome.

Shaking himself, Cary continued running. He was kind of surprised on how long the train explosion was taking – what, did it hit a tank full of TNT? He knew a lot about explosions, and this was the longest one he had ever witnessed. Actually, this was the first explosion Cary had experienced, other than the ones he caused and when his experiments went wrong and something blew up in his face.

Cary's foot caught on something, and he fell hard. He landed on some burning debris, something puncturing his hand. Luckily, he didn't face plant.

Cary rolled onto his back, his ankle screaming. Whatever he had tripped over, his foot was caught under it.

The explosions seemed to have stopped – there were just giant burning chunks of metal lying around now, and the air was still thick with smoke. Coughing, Cary hurriedly yanked a shard of metal from his palm. Thankfully, it wasn't in the hand that Cary had broken earlier.

Forgetting momentarily about his ankle, Cary checked his hand. The bandages, though black with ash, were still wrapped, the fingers looked as though they were still set, but they ached with an intense throbbing that hadn't been there before the crash.

Cary turned his attention to his foot, which was wedged underneath a solid block of metal. Great.

Hobbling to his feet, Cary position himself so that he could attempt to pull his foot out. Taking a deep breath, because he was pretty sure that it was either broken or sprained, Cary pulled backwards on his leg with all his might, hissing in pain when it didn't budge.

After a couple minutes of tugging, yanking, and screaming in frustration, Cary finally pulled his foot free. Immediately, he rose and wobbled back in the direction of the train station.

Unfortunately, it seemed to have been demolished in the crash. All Cary could see was burning metal, burning metal, and more burning metal.

Groaning to himself, Cary began walking back the way he came, hoping that he would find someone else. After a couple of minutes, his wish was granted.

"Annabelle!" Cary cried hoarsely after spotting her light blonde hair, now dirty with soot, and long trench coat. She had her back to him, and was crouching behind a chunk of metal, looking as if she was hiding from something. He suspected that she didn't know the explosions were over.

She didn't appear to hear him, so he repeated himself, only louder. Annabelle whipped around, her eyes widening as she spotted Cary.

"Cary!" She shrieked, jumping to her feet and launching herself at him, causing him to stumble back and cry out in pain as he put weight on his injured ankle. "Sorry!" She gasped, releasing him as she realized he was hurt. "God, what happened to you?"

Annabelle looked fine, apart from being covered in dirt and soot, and a small cut at the base of her hairline. Cary shrugged. "I think I sprained my ankle."

Annabelle's face was a mask of horror. "Oh, god!" She cried, pulling out the dramatics. Cary wondered briefly if she should have a bigger part in the movie, one where she basically freaked out in concern the whole time. "Which one? Does it hurt? Do you want me to carry you?"

"What? No! I can walk. I'm fine, don't worry," Cary assured her, beginning to walk again. Annabelle fell in step with him, babbling on and on about her concern for him. "Hey, where is everyone?"

Annabelle shrugged. "I don't know. When the train crashed –" She shuddered, obviously remembering it, "I just… ran. I don't think anyone was with me."

"Yeah, I was following Charles and Joe and Leah, but I have no idea where any of them went," Cary said as they edged between two train cars.

As if on cue, two blackened figures stumbled into view. Cary recognized them as Joe and Charles. They seemed to be arguing – Cary could hear Charles's voice cracks even from here.

"CHARLES! JOE!" Annabelle shrieked, right in Cary's ear. He slammed his hands over his ears, glaring at Annabelle.

"Good god! Calm down!" He said, half-joking, half-serious. Annabelle smiled sheepishly, but took off at a run at Charles and Joe, who had stopped walking and were waiting for them. Cary followed at a hobble.

By the time he had reached them, all three were chattering excitedly. "Cary! Oh my god, I thought everyone was dead!" Charles cried.

"Have you seen Martin and Preston and Alice and Leah?" Joe asked, sounding worried. Cary and Annabelle shook their heads.

"Leah was with us…" Charles said uncertainly. "Then she let go of my hand and –"

"You guys were holding _hands_?" Cary teased, earning a glare from Charles.

"Hey – guys, hey!" Everyone turned and watched as Martin, Preston and Alice stumbled towards them. None of them were too beat up, but Preston was limping and Alice was clutching her wrist, but Martin was alright, apart from the fact that his glasses were broken. Everyone began speaking at once.

"Oh my god, that was crazy-"

"-Amazing-"

"-I think I peed myself-"

"-guys, I'm crying-"

"-I swear it almost hit me-"

"-guys, has anyone seen Leah?"

Everyone fell silent at the last comment. It was Joe, and he was stretched on his toes, neck craned as he tried to peer over the wreckage.

"Oh shit, oh shit," Charles said, running his hands through his hair. Annabelle had sat down on the ground, her legs folded underneath her as tears ran down her face. Everyone was in a different state of freak out.

But Cary? Cary didn't know what to feel. It wasn't like he hated Leah enough to wish her _dead_. But ever since she had moved to Lillian and joined their group, his life had been different.

"Guys, oh my god," Martin said, inturupting Cary's thoughts. He was pointing to twisted pile of metal. To Cary's repulsion and horror, a section of it was red with blood.

"Oh, my god," Alice said.

"Leah."


	7. Chapter 7 - Leah

**Hey everybody. So I have updated - hooray! Enjoy :)**

Chapter 5 –Leah

Leah wasn't sure where she was. Her knees were pressing into something sharp, and her hands were clutched over her head. What had happened?

Then everything came crashing back down. The train crash. Charles dragging her away. Her asthma attack. Wait, that didn't make sense. Leah didn't have asthma.

Oh, yeah. It was from all the smoke.

Leah bolted upright, finally coming to. After making sure no bones were broken (none were) and checking that she wasn't bleeding (only on her arm) she staggered to her feet and scanned the area for someone, anyone. She couldn't see anything. Just burning metal.

Coughing, Leah realized that she was covered in soot. That kind of sucked, considering that her shirt was new.

Leah knew that she had to find at least one other person – god, she'd even be somewhat happy to see _Cary _right now. Anything other than this…emptiness.

"Hello?" She called, her voice raspy from all the smoke. She cleared it. "Charles? Annabelle? Joe?"

There was no response. Leah could feel her heartbeat quicken and took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She would find them. She just had to start looking, rather than sitting on her ass waiting for someone to find her.

Leah stumbled to her feet and brushed herself off, only succeeding in dirtying herself more.

She scanned the area, eyes peeled for something that wasn't wreckage. She didn't see anything.

Sighing, Leah decided on a direction to start walking in, and did so.

After a couple of minutes of aimless wandering, she could suddenly hear faint voices, obviously far in the distance. Her heart beating in excitement and hope, Leah picked up her pace and headed in the direction of the noise.

Slowly, Leah could start making out the voices. Everyone was shouting over each other, most definitely arguing. Suddenly, everyone went quiet, and Leah heard Alice say, "Oh my god." Then her name.

Leah stepped around a giant hunk of metal, finally able to see the group. They stood in a cluster, yet spaced away from each other. Everyone had their backs to her, and Joe was reaching out towards a hunk of metal, which was mysteriously covered in something red. Like blood.

"Joe, don't do it!" Cary exclaimed, stepping forward.

"Oh my god, you don't know what could be under it!" Martin protested.

"What is that?" Leah asked, finally finding her voice.

Everyone whipped around, shock evident on each of their faces.

The air was suddenly knocked out of Leah as she was attacked by Annabelle, who had wrapped her arms around Leah and pushed her back a couple steps.

"I thought you were dead!" Annabelle cried, finally releasing her.

"Leah!" Charles said hoarsely. "You're okay!"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Leah asked flippantly. "You think I could get killed by some raining train cars?"

Nobody laughed at her attempt at a joke, but Alice and Preston did crack a smile.

"Wait," Cary said, "if Leah's okay, then what's all the blood?"

Joe reached out and grabbed at something, pulling it from the wreckage despite the protests of his friends. Leah averted her eyes, making a sick face.

"Guys! It's okay! It's just my fake blood!" Joe exclaimed, smiling despite the horror of what had happened just minutes earlier.

"Well that's a relief," Preston said faintly.

"Guys, just to clear things up," Martin started, "what happened?"

"A train exploded," Cary summed up. Everyone erupted into conversation about what his or her experience in the train wreck had been.

"I almost died-"

"-when I looked up, it was coming right at me-"

"-I broke my leg-"

"-I hid under another train car-"

"-guys, I'm serious, I think my foot is broke-"

"-Shut up, Cary."

Leah let all their stories wash over her, thankful that they all were still here to tell it.

Joe looked like he was thinking hard. "Guys." Nobody heard him. "Guys!" he said again, louder. Nobody noticed. "GUYS! LISTEN!"

Everybody fell silent, looking at Joe in a silent awe at his outburst.

He continued. "I was watching the train before it exploded. I-"

"Did you see what happened?" Martin interrupted excitedly.

"Shut up, Smartin," Cary told him, resulting in a protest from Martin.

"Guys!" Leah snapped. "Listen to Joe." She was interested in hearing if he had seen what she had – the blue pickup truck pulling onto the tracks.

"Thank you," Joe said flatly. "Guys, before the explosion, I saw –"

"A car on the tracks?" Leah couldn't help but finish the story.

"You saw it too?" Joe said over everyone's exclamation of shock over Leah's and Joe's combined story. Leah nodded, fearfully meeting Joe's wide eyes. Why would somebody do this?

Cary scrambled on top of a train car, seeming to limp as he did so. In fact, this whole time, Cary seemed to be favoring his left foot.

Alice seemed to notice it too. "Cary, is your foot alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine," he said distractedly, even though a moment ago he had been claiming that his leg was broken. Leah wanted to roll her eyes. "Guys, you've got to see this."

The rest of the group climbed on top of the train car, surveying the wreckage below.

"Wow," Annabelle said, summing up what the whole group had been thinking. The whole area seemed to have been demolished – the train station was crushed, and the premises was littered with a large amount of metal and wrecked train cars. Leah could faintly make out Alice's bright yellow car – how the hell did that escape the explosion?

"Did the car look like that?" Charles asked after a moment of silence, raising a shaking and soot-covered hand to point at what looked like a demolished blue pickup truck.

"Yep," Joe said in conformation.

"Well, come on, guys," Alice said, lightly leaping down from the train car. "Let's go check it out!"

"Are you serious?" Preston asked nervously. "There's probably a man in it… who's dead… his body is probably ripped up from the impact…"

"Thanks for that delightful image," Leah said before he could elaborate more. She leapt down after Alice, landing with a slight unsteadiness.

"How do you know it couldn't be a girl in there?" Annabelle asked Preston as she followed Leah down. "Are you saying only men drive cars into oncoming trains? That's sexist, Preston."

Preston spluttered something about how he was just making an assumption, and no he wasn't sexist. Annabelle just laughed. "I was kidding!" She stuck a hand on her hip and stared up at the boys. "Are you guys coming or not?"

The boys quickly jumped off the train car, except for Cary, who slid down and landed with an unpleasant face.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Charles asked. Cary just scoffed.

"Believe me, I've been through way worse."

"Like having your stupid bombs blow up in your face?" Leah pointed out as the group began heading in the direction of the car.

"Yeah, something like that," Cary said. Leah could hear a note of something – worry? – in his voice.

Annabelle, who had been walking in front of Leah, stopped walking so suddenly Leah slammed into her. "God, Annabelle, keep it moving," she grumbled. Annabelle appeared not to have heard.

"Guys," she whispered. "Do you know who that is?"

Leah hadn't even realized that they had reached the truck. She stepped out from behind Annabelle, eyes widening as she took in the state of the vehicle.

It was torn completely in half, the passenger side and half of the truck bed completely ripped off. The windshield was shattered, and both tires were a mess.

The worst of it was the man who was still strapped into the car, slumped over the dashboard. Leah was thankful that he wasn't ripped to shreds like Preston had predicted he would be.

"Guys, that's Dr. Woodward," Alice said, her voice quiet.

"Dr. Woodward? Does he work at the school?" Cary asked.

"He teaches biology," Leah told him, for once not snapping at him.

"_Honors _biology," Charles added. "I'm in his class."

"Me too," Leah pointed out.

"Guys, I don't really care," Preston said, his voice starting out quite but getting louder with each word. "There is a _dead guy _sitting in front of us!"

"Dr. Woodward?" Alice said, her voice small as she stepped forward. "Dr. Woodward?" She reached out to touch his hand. It fell from the dashboard to the seat, resulting in screams from the rest of the group. His hand fell open, and something fell out of it.

Alice bent forward to pick it up. "What is it?" Martin asked in a hushed tone.

She unfolded it, everyone crowding around her to get a better look.

"It's a map," Cary said, sounding disappointed.

"Not just any map!" Joe said. "It's the train schedule!"

"And that's supposed to excite me _how_?" Cary asked. For once, Leah agreed with him.

Suddenly, the map was grabbed from Alice's hand. "Holy shit!" Someone exclaimed, while others let out screams of shock, all of them clinging to one another as they stumbled back.

"You should go," the deep, gravelly voice of Mr. Woodward instructed. Leah looked up and found him pointing a gun at them.

"Oh my god," Preston said weakly, "we're gonna die."

**Wow I wonder what's going to happen next... :P actually I am wondering. Because there is no alien, I need a reason for Dr. Woodward to have driven into an oncoming train... any ideas? Please. Please guys.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Cary

Chapter 6 – Cary

Cary hadn't even realized that he had grabbed onto the back of Alice's jacket and yanked her backwards until she turned around and gently pried his hand of her shoulder. They were staring at Dr. Woodward, who was miraculously alive after his train crash incident, and the gun he was pointing at them. Cary didn't think he'd been so scared in his entire life – except, maybe for when he was alone with his dad. Which was a lot.

"You have to go," Dr. Woodward rasped. "They'll kill you, your families too." The group didn't move, still staring, stricken, at the gun. Dr. Woodward gestured impatiently with the gun. "Go. Go!"

"Come on, guys," Annabelle said, snapping the group out of their daze. They began running, Cary hobbling along the best that he could. Dr. Woodward was still heard, yelling at them to go as they ran towards Alice's car.

"Guys, hurry up!" Charles shouted as they raced back to the car. Martin looked green – Cary prayed that he wasn't going to throw up – and Leah looked like she was uttering a prayer. Annabelle was clutching Joe's arm in what looked like a painful grip, and Preston was crying.

They had reached Alice's car, and she was yelling at them all to get their asses in the car. Cary didn't have to be told twice – he dove in after Joe.

"Charles! Hurry the fuck up!" Alice screamed, starting to climb into the driver's seat.

"I'm coming!" Charles yelled back, having bent down and grabbed something from what remained of the train station. As he came closer, Cary realized it was the camera.

Sirens wailed in the distance, no doubt the police coming to check out the accident. They had to get out of there, now. As soon as Charles hauled himself into the passenger seat, Alice stomped on the gas, and they took off.

"Holy fuck!"

"Guys, oh, my god, did you hear Dr. Woodward-"

"They'll kill you, your family-"

"Guys, my camera is ruined!"

"No one cares!"

"I don't want to die!"

"Oh my god, the focus ring fell off!"

"No one cares about your stupid camera!" Cary found himself yelling at Charles, but it was drowned out in the noise of everyone else voicing his or her opinions on the explosion and encounter with Dr. Woodward.

"Everybody shut up!" Alice suddenly exploded. Her hands were tight on the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white. Everybody fell silent. "I'm going to be in so much trouble," she said, almost to herself.

Joe addressed everybody, looking serious. "Guys, nobody is going know about this." He looked everyone in the eye. "_Nobody_. We're not going to say a thing. Right?" No response. "Right?"

"Right," came a chorus of weak replies.

"There," Joe said, leaning back against the seat, taking a comfort that Cary did not share in the fact that nobody was going to say anything. "See? We'll be fine." He didn't sound so sure.

The rest of the drive was almost silent. Cary readjusted his bandage, ignoring Joe as he once again asked him how he got it.

The car pulled to a stop. It was Charles's, Joe's, Leah's and Cary's neighborhood. The four kids jumped out. Joe had turned back to Alice, who pulled away with, "I knew I shouldn't have done this." His smile faded as she drove away.

"Well," Leah said, looking a little crazed, given the fact that she was covered from head to toe in black soot, "I'll see you guys in the morning, I guess."

Charles nodded, and Joe waved one hand, neither speaking. They both turned and headed in the direction of their homes. Leah turned the opposite way, dragging her feet as she walked.

Cary stayed a little behind her, partly because of his ankle and partly because he didn't want to walk next to her. To his surprise, however, she stopped walking after a bit and waited for him to catch up.

"Is your ankle okay?" She asked, matching his slow pace. Cary shrugged, trying not to show how surprised he was the Leah was actually showing concern for him.

"I'll manage," he told her. He probably could – he'd dealt with much worse things in the past.

Leah looked doubtful. "I think you should go to the hospital."

Cary shook his head. He would never go to the hospital, ever. There would be too many bruises and not enough explanations. "It'll be fine. Besides, what would I tell them what happened?"

Leah shrugged. "You could say you tripped." She glanced at him. "Or jumped out your window."

Cary's face hardened. "What was that all about, anyways?" Leah continued. Cary didn't answer. "I did see you. I wasn't on drugs – my parents would kill me if I was."

_My dad almost kills me daily_. Cary thought bitterly. Instead, he said, "I didn't jump out my window, Leah. You're going insane."

Leah huffed. "God, Cary, you're impossible."

"You _always _say that. I'm getting tired of hearing it." Leah glared at him, and Cary allowed himself some grim pleasure at her extreme annoyance before he headed up his lawn. He glanced back at Leah, who just shook her head and stormed towards her house, disappearing inside moments later.

Turning back to the task at hand, Cary slowly pushed the door open. If his father found him out this late at night… covered in soot… Cary didn't want to think of the consequences.

He crept into the dark house, making sure to shut the door silently, with out so much of a click. He had no idea if his father was home, or out, getting drunk at some bar, but he wasn't going to take any chances. As silently and stealthily as he could with a partially-broken ankle, Cary hobbled through the house, making his way to the stairs. Many times of walking through the dark house had given him a pretty good estimate of where the walls and doors were, so he didn't crash into anything.

The floor creaked loudly underneath him as he climbed the first step, and he froze. There was no notion that anyone had heard, so Cary continued up the steps, holding his breath until he reached the top. Now he just needed to make to his house – maybe the shower…

"Where were you?" A cold, hard voice demanded, freezing Cary in his steps. He didn't answer – he couldn't, his tongue was stuck in his throat.

"I said, _where were you_?" His father repeated.

"I…uh…" Cary stammered, heart hammering. He couldn't get a reason out before he was falling backwards, his stomach dropping as he collapsed.

His head hit the stairs countless times, his arms and legs twisting unnaturally. He attempted to stop himself as he crashed backwards down the stairs, but he couldn't. His ankle screamed as it banged against the stairs.

He came to a stop in a mangled heap at the bottom of the stairs, his head pounding. His vision was blurring, and his chest hurt. Everything hurt.

This was how it always went. Cary's father asked him a question, beat Cary up before he could give an answer, and beat him up more for not giving an answer. It sucked.

He wasn't sure how long he lay there, but there was a sharp kick in his ribs before Cary was sure his father was gone. He waited until the pounding in his head was a dull throb and his body was merely aching, rather than burning, before he forced himself to climb the stairs. His head pounded with each step, and his legs shook under his weight. All he focused on was getting into his bed – screw the shower. He just wanted to sleep. His head hurt, his ankle hurt, his ribs ached.

He reached the top of the stairs, which took much longer than he thought it normally should have. His head was spinning, and there seemed too be four of his hands. He shook his head and blinked multiple times, trying to clear it. Cary couldn't seem to be able to think straight – he knew he should take a shower, clean some of the gross ash and dried blood off, but he found himself in his room.

Not wanting to leave it once he was inside, Cary quickly locked the door – not that it had ever worked – dropped his backpack and collapsed onto his bed, not caring that he was getting his sheets dirty. Cary didn't care about anything at the moment, actually. His head hurt too much and his ankle and hand and basically every other part of his body ached and Cary just didn't want to deal with anything at the moment, he just wanted to sleep. So sleep he did.

Cary quickly drifted into an unpleasant sleep, full of exploding trains and being pushed down stairs.


	9. Chapter 9 - Leah

**Wowee what's this? A chapter? **

**oh yeah thanks for the reviews you guys :)**

Chapter 7

Leah woke up to the sound of someone knocking hard on her door. She groaned, rolling over and burying her head underneath her pillow, waiting for the knocking to stop. It didn't.

"Leah! It's way past eleven and I know it's summer but you've never slept this late in your _life_. And Annabelle's on the phone."

Way past eleven? The latest Leah had ever slept was a little past nine. Well, she had never stayed up all night at a train wreck, either. And it didn't help that she had to shower for an hour afterwards to get the majority of the soot and ash off her. She was pretty sure that there was still a layer lingering on her skin and hair.

"One second," she groaned, rolling out of bed and padding over to the door, which she opened and was met by her mother. She looked slightly amused and was holding the telephone.

"Here, honey. Breakfast – or lunch, whichever you prefer to call it – is on the table."

Leah smiled and took the phone. "Thanks. I'll be down in a sec." She then closed the door with a smile.

The moment the door was closed, Leah rocketed onto her bed, holding the phone to her ear. "Annabelle? It's Leah."

"Leah, hey!" Annabelle said in a hushed tone. "Sorry, I can't talk very loudly – my sister is still asleep" – Annabelle shared a room with her older sister, who tended to sleep way past two – "but there's a plan to meet at Martin's house around one. You know," Annabelle paused for dramatic effects, "to discuss the _incident_."

"Okay," Leah said, trying to process it all. "Meeting at Martin's house at one. Got it. Is everyone going to be there?" She was doubtful that Alice would feel compelled to come when her last outing with them ended in a near-death situation. Two, actually, if you included Woodward, which Leah did.

"Everybody is invited," Annabelle said. "Not sure if Alice will show." She obviously had the same doubts as Leah.

"That's too bad," Leah said, running a hand through her hair. "Alright, I'm going to get dressed and have some food, then I'll meet you guys there. Sound good?"

"Perfect. See you then!" Annabelle hung up before Leah had the chance to say goodbye.

Leah put down the phone and paused for a few seconds, trying to decide on what to wear. It was warm out – no, it was hot. Summers in Lillian were always hot.

She quickly changed into white shorts and a navy blue tank top, quickly ran a brush through her thin brown hair and leapt out of her room.

"Mom!" She called as she ran down the stairs into the kitchen, "I'm going to Martin's in, like, an hour, maybe less."

"Who's Martin again?" Her mother asked. "Oh, and I made you some toast. And cut up some strawberries. They're in the fridge."

"Thanks," Leah said, sitting down and biting into her toast before leaping up and opening the refrigerator, relishing the cool breeze that hit her. As she grabbed the strawberries, she said, "and Martin is the boy with the glasses. Remember? You've met him, like, fifty times."

Leah's mom nodded. "Of course," she said in a way that made it clear she still had no idea who Martin was. "Well, Dad's at work and I'm going to be out" – she checked the clock – "from now until six, so can you get yourself to Martin's?"

Leah rolled her eyes, sitting back down. "_Of course_, Mom. I'm not helpless, you know."

Her mother laughed, said a quick goodbye, grabbed her purse and left, leaving Leah alone in the house. She finished eating her toast slowly, trying to waste the time, but it was only twelve twenty by the time she was finished. Leah anxiously drummed her fingers on the old wooden table. Time always passed too slowly when Leah was waiting for something – her impatience was one of her worst qualities.

At twelve thirty, Leah gave up waiting and headed outside, where she jumped onto her bike. Martin didn't live too far away – it was about a five minute bike ride, but Leah figured if she did some loops she wouldn't get there too early.

She set off down the road, enjoying the warmth and the nice breeze. She glanced at Cary's house as she glided by – there was no car in the driveway. Maybe Cary's dad was driving him over.

She arrived at Martin's house ten minutes early, even though she did twelve pointless loops around the neighborhood. She was just anxious to discuss, to see what the others thought about what had happened.

It turned out she wasn't the only one who was focused on getting there. Joe hopped off his bike, having just pulled in the driveway, and ran up to Leah.

"Hey," he said breathlessly. "I'm glad I'm not the first one here. I've been doing loops for the past twenty minutes."

"Me too!" Leah exclaimed. "Should we go inside?"

Joe looked around and shrugged. "Probably. I mean, he could be looking through the window and watching us and waiting for us to come inside." At that, they both started scanning the windows. Nobody was watching them.

"Come on," Leah said, walking up to the door and ringing the bell. She and Joe waited for the door to open. Leah tapped her foot impatiently.

Finally, Martin pulled the door open. "Guys, your finally here!"

"What do you mean?" Leah asked. "We were invited over at one!"

Martin shrugged. "Everybody came before that. Except for Cary and Alice, but there's still time."

"Alice isn't here?" Joe said, sounding disappointed.

Martin shook his head and stepped back. "Come on in."

Leah and Joe entered the quite house. "Everybody's in my room. Just try to be quiet, because my parents are sleeping."

"Sleeping?" Leah said incredulously. "It's after noon!"

Martin shrugged as the trio climbed the stairs. "They're late sleepers."

"Obviously," Joe muttered, and Leah laughed.

"Follow me," Martin said, leading the two into his room. His room wasn't to big to begin with, so Leah wondered how everyone was going to fit in it. Charles was sprawled out on Martin's bed, Preston was sitting on the ground, his legs out in front of him, and Annabelle was curled in Martin's chair by the window, which was wide open. They all looked to hot to function.

"You guys okay?" Leah asked. "It's not that hot in here."

"Just try sitting here for an hour without doing anything, then you'll see," Charles groaned.

"You guys have been here for an _hour_?" Joe said in disbelief as Martin sat on the floor next to Preston, leaning against his bed.

"We couldn't wait to get here," Annabelle said, fanning herself with one of Martin's mathematical magazines.

"You should have called," Leah said, sitting against the wall. Joe moved over to Charles and pushed him over, making room for himself on the bed.

"Yeah, well, we didn't want to move," Preston said. "It's too hot."

"God, your so lazy," Annabelle said, throwing something from Martin's desk at him, resulting in immediate protestation from both Martin and Preston.

"Annabelle, don't touch my stuff!" Martin exclaimed. Annabelle made a face at him.

"Do you guys know where Alice and Cary are?" Leah asked. Everybody shook their heads.

"Cary is pretty unpredictable – he's probably just blowing something up in his backyard and forgot about this meeting," Charles said. "Because I did call him."

"Did he answer?" Joe questioned. Charles nodded.

"He sounded pretty weird. Maybe he was sick."

"Moving on," Annabelle exclaimed loudly. "We can explain to them later. Right now we have more pressing matters on our hands."

"What?" Martin asked. Annabelle stared at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Did you already forget about last night?" Preston asked incredulously. Martin blushed and mumbled something unintelligible.

"What are we going to do about it?" Joe asked in a half-whisper.

"Why do we need to do something?" Charles exclaimed, his voice low and hoarse.

Joe shrugged. "We were there," Leah supplied. "We witnessed it. We should try to figure out why Dr. Woodward did what he did."

"I don't care why he did what he did!" Preston exclaimed loudly, while Martin shushed him. "I just want to forget about it!"

"Well, we can't," Annabelle said fiercely. "Sorry, but I want to know what's going on. It's not some coincidence that Woodward drove onto the tracks while that train was coming."

"But if it wasn't a coincidence, then what was it?" Joe asked.

"Maybe," Martin said slowly.

"He was trying to stop something!" Preston finished, looking pleased.

"Well, what did he want to stop?" Charles asked.

"How am I supposed to know that?" Preston responded, sounding cross.

"Maybe there was something on the train he didn't want getting to the destination," Leah said quietly, thinking.

Everybody paused for a second. "Wait," Annabelle said hurriedly, sound excited. "Where was this train going?"

Everybody stared at each other for a second before jumping to their feet.

"Me and Martin and Joe will go into town and look for last night's train schedule," Annabelle said breathlessly. "Charles, go get your camera fixed, and Preston, go get Alice, and Leah, go find Cary. We're going to need everybody, whether or not they want to be here."

"What?" Leah protested. "Why do _I _have to find Cary?"

"Because you live right next door," Annabelle snapped. "Alright everybody, let's move! We've got a mystery to solve."

"God, this isn't an episode of Scooby Doo," Charles grumbled, but even so, everybody followed Annabelle out the door. Leah hopped on her bike with instructions to be back at Martin's in an hour, and with that they all headed in different directions.


	10. Chapter 10 - Cary

**Hey it's a new chapter. **

Chapter 8 – Cary

It was well into the afternoon by them time Cary woke up, and when he did, he was groggy and tired and not thinking straight. His chest hurt, his head was pounding and his arm was throbbing. In fact, everything hurt. He was about to flop back down on his bed and sleep the rest of the day off when he was jolted awake by remembering that he was supposed to have gone over to Martin's this afternoon. He quickly grabbed for his clock, ignoring the shooting pain the blazed through him as he did, and read the time. It was almost three. He missed the meeting by two hours.

Knowing that it would be no use to go now – and he wasn't sure if he would even be _able _to make it to Martin's house – Cary flopped back down on his bed. He wanted to go to the bathroom to get his pain killers – he really did – but he was too worn out and every part of his body ached.

Just as he was about to fall back asleep, there was a pounding on the door. Cary's eyes flew open, his breathing picked up – was it his dad? But then he relaxed – for one thing, his dad was out for the whole day, no doubt drinking the day away at a bar just outside of town, and for another, his dad would never knock on the door to their own house.

The pounding came again, and Cary contemplated on letting whoever it was just stand there until they realized no one was home. But his curiosity – and annoyance, because the person just _kept on banging_ – won out, and he rolled out of bed, groaning.

He landed on the floor, seeing stars, and shook his head to clear it. He brought his hand up to run it through his hair, but stopped at the sight of blood. His hand that wasn't bandaged was covered in the sickening, rust-colored dried blood. It looked horrible, and felt even worse. Cary struggled to remember how he got it – oh yeah. He fell on a shard of metal at the train wreck. Great. Now _both _his hands needed to be bandaged. Fan-fucking-tastic. Hesitantly, he stood up and made his way to the door. By the time he reached the top of the stairs, his head was spinning and his lungs ached, but he pushed himself to keep going. He went down the stairs carefully, clinging to the railing and taking it one step at a time – he did not want to repeat last-nights events.

He made it to the bottom and decided to reward himself with five seconds of rest against the wall before stepping over a shard of a broken beer bottle and wobbled to the door. The pounding continued, except this time it was followed with, "Cary, goddammit, I know your in there! So open up!" The voice was painfully recognizable – it was none other than Leah fucking Anderson, his number one best friend.

"Go away, Leah!" He shouted through the door. The banging stopped, and Cary wondered for a split second if she really had gone. But then the doorknob rattled, and Cary realized with a start that Leah was opening the door.

He quickly slammed his body against it, knowing the door was unlocked. Sure enough, he could feel Leah pushing against the door and cursing.

"Jesus Christ, Cary, I'm not here to murder you! Annabelle was being a bitch and made me come get you because you didn't show up at Martin's house!"

"I'm honored you noticed," he said sarcastically, still putting all his weight against the door.

"Shut up," Leah growled. She banged on the door two more times before abruptly giving up. "You know what? Why did I even come? We should just leave you in here to rot. God." Cary heard her start to walk away, and let out a sigh of relief before straightening up and beginning to head back to his room.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Leah stood in the doorway, looking triumphant. Her face fell into a look of disgust that turned into one of partial concern as she looked around the house and at Cary.

"Jesus," Cary said. "Way to make an entrance." He leaned against the wall, the bright light coming in from open doorway making him dizzy.

Leah squinted at him. "Why is it so dark in here? Where's the light?" Leah found on and flicked it one. Cary flinched at the sudden bright light.

"Cary, you look like shit," Leah said bluntly. Cary snorted.

"Thanks. You don't look so good yourself."

Leah looked angry. "Excuse me? I'm not the one covered in grime from last night. Haven't you heard of a shower? Personal hygiene? _Water_? Anything ring a bell?"

"I got distracted last night," Cary grumbled. "I didn't really have time too."

Leah crossed her arms. "You are _not _leaving the house looking like that."

"Good," Cary said, turning away and beginning to pad further into the house. "Because I'm not leaving."

There was a pause, and Leah hurried after him. Cary froze. She couldn't see the rest of the house. Sure, the entrance was bad – dusty, dirty, old shoes scuffed floorboards and one grimy ripped rug. But the rest of the house had broken glass, sagging furniture and ripped curtains. Leah couldn't see that.

Cary abruptly turned around. "You stay here, I'll go get changed and be back down in, say, ten minutes." Leah narrowed her eyes, looking like she was about to protest. "What? You want to come up and watch me shower?" Leah's mouth snapped shut, and she glared furiously at Cary.

"Okay," she growled. "Ten minutes."

Cary nodded and headed upstairs, hoping that Leah would think his slow walking was just to piss her off and not because his ankle was killing him. The last thing he needed was her concern.

The stairs were exceptionally excruciating. Cary bit his lip to prevent himself from crying out as he put pressure on his ankle. All he wanted to do was sit down and ice it, but Leah was watching suspiciously from the foyer, so he forced himself to keep going.

When he reached the bathroom, he collapsed to the ground and slammed the door shut, breathing deeply. After a few moments, he pulled himself up, using the sink to help him, and grabbed some painkillers from the medicine cabinet. After swallowing four – he was only supposed to take two, that was the recommended serving, but Cary figured that this was a special case. He then turned the sink on a focused on cleaning his hand, scraping the dried blood off. The cut underneath it looked horrible, so Cary tried not to look at it as he smothered it with antiseptic and pasted a large bandage over it. He then stripped and turned the shower on, resolving to wrap his ankle after he showered.

He stood in the pulsing cold water for about five minutes, occasionally trying to get some of the ash and grime off, but he figured that he was failing miserably at it.

He turned the shower off and dried off before changing into clean clothes and grabbing the ace bandage from the cabinet. Since both his hands were already wrapped, he struggled to correctly wrap his ankle. He figured he did something wrong, because it hurt even more when he was finished, but he didn't care. He grabbed the painkillers, in case he needed some later, and his favorite lighter, and began his trek downstairs, where Leah was waiting. She was inspecting the table in the foyer, which had one bowl for change in it. Shockingly, there was no change.

"I'm ready," Cary said, announcing his presence. Leah glanced up at him, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"You don't look like you showered," she said.

"My hair's wet, isn't it?" Cary asked, walking past her and to the door. Leah's eyes zeroed in on his newly wrapped ankle and hand.

"What happened to your ankle?" She asked. "And hand? You didn't have those bandages before you showered."

"So you admit that I showered," Cary said, avoiding the obvious question as he pulled the door open and stepped intot he bright sunlight. "Jesus, what time is it?"

"Three oh four," Leah said. "Answer the question. Why did you wrap your ankle?"

"I thought it looked cool," Cary said sarcastically, and Leah raised an eyebrow. "Jesus, I hurt it at the train wreck and didn't have time to do anything about it until now."

"And your hand?"

"I cut it at the train wreck too," Cary explained. "Now, where are we going?"

"Um, the diner, I think," Leah said.

"You think?"

"Yes," Leah snapped, picking her bike up from where she had discarded it in his yard. "Come on."

"Do we have to bike?" Cary asked, knowing he wouldn't be able to make it. Not with his head pounding and both hands injured and ankle pretty much broken and possibly cracked rips. This was just not his day.

Leah glanced at him, taking in his injuries. She obviously deemed him too hurt to bike, because she climbed off hers. "No, we can walk."

"Great," Cary said, knowing that walking wasn't much better than biking.

They took off down the street, Leah towing her bike next to her. Cary tried not to collapse every time he put pressure on his ankle. He was walking considerably slower than Leah, who seemed to sense his pain and slowed down a bit.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked, a hint of worry in her voice. "Maybe you should go to the hospital. They could –"

"No!" Cary interrupted, panicked. Leah looked surprised before it quickly changed into annoyed. "No hospitals." If he went to a hospital, they would see his bruises, and then there would be to many questions and not enough answers.

"Well, sorry for being concerned," Leah snapped. Cary sighed in relief. He much preferred a pissed-off Leah than a concerned Leah. He knew how to handle a pissed-off Leah.

They continued to walk in silence. Every minute seemed to crawl by aggravatingly slow. They finally reached the outside edges of town, and Cary was ready to praise God for it. He wasn't sure how much more he could take. He really regretted coming with Leah. He should have just never answered the door in the first place.

"Almost there," Leah said, and sure enough, as they rounded the corner, Cary could see the diner.

"Was it just me or was that walk really long," Cary noted as Leah pushed her bike into the bike rack. They headed around to the door.

"Well, you were walking at like, zero miles an hour, so yeah, it was."

Cary rolled his eyes. "Injured, remember?"

"Right," Leah said, and pushed the door open. They were immediately met with the hostess, who grinned at them.

"Table for two?" She said with a smile.

"Um, no," Leah said hurriedly. "We're…" she scanned the diner, spotting Annabelle, Martin and Joe already sitting at a table by the window. "We're joining them." She pointed to where the three were sitting.

"Oh, sure. Follow me," the hostess led them to the table. As if they couldn't find it on their own. Cary collapsed into a seat next to Annabelle, ignoring their exclamations of 'oh God, Cary you look horrible!'

"I know," he said. "I had a rough night. Now can someone fill me in on what's happening?"

**Review please? So I know I'm writing this for someone(s) rather than just myself.**


	11. Chapter 11 - Leah

**Wowee is this a chapter? Hey guys I'm not dead just thought you'd like to know. Hope you enjoy this stellar chapter. Also I apologize for not really getting the diner scene right because I didn't have ****internet while writing this therefore I couldn't look up the scene or anything... sorry about that.**

Chapter 9 – Leah

Annabelle was speaking quickly to Cary, with a few interruptions from Joe – explaining about the train and how they had come to believe that Dr. Woodward was trying to stop it from getting somewhere.

"That was my idea, by the way," Leah pointed out when they reached that part. Cary rolled his eyes and Annabelle glared at her.

"It doesn't matter whose idea it was," Martin said, sounding sour. Leah wondered briefly what had happened to make him so upset.

"It does to me," Leah responded, pretending to sound hurt.

"Can I get you anything?" The waitress had approached them and was waiting, pen in hand. The five friends all glanced at each other.

Suddenly, Charles collapsed into the chair across from Cary. "I'll have a burger and fries, please." He shook a couple of crumpled dollars out of his pocket. "And a milkshake." The waitress nodded and left.

"Were you able to fix the camera?" Joe asked.

Charles nodded, smiling proudly. "Yep. All it took was ten extra dollars and a promise that my sister would love his new hair cut." Leah rolled her eyes. The guy at the camera shop, Donny, was hopelessly in love with Charles's oldest sister, Jen.

"Wait," Cary said, "Where's Preston? And Alice?"

"I sent Preston to _get _Alice," Annabelle sounded irritated. "I don't know what's taking him so long."

As if on cue, they both stumbled through the door. Preston spotted them, looking instantly relieved, and all but dragged Alice over to the table. Alice looked less that thrilled to be back with the people that had pulled her into a life threatening situation. Even so, she sat down across from Joe, who grinned and angled his body towards her.

"What did we miss?" Preston asked, sounding breathless. Leah wondered if they had run here. If they did, Alice was in much better shape that Preston.

"I got my camera fixed!" Charles cried triumphantly. Annabelle rolled her eyes and leaned forward, commanding the attention to herself.

"Guys, so I found the train schedule," she said in a slightly hushed voice, as if having a train schedule was illegal.

"I helped!" Joe exclaimed incredulously.

"Yeah, but I was the one who asked for it," Annabelle told him.

"Well I was the one who found the place!" Joe reminded her.

"Okay, we get it," Leah cut in. "Did you see where the train was going?"

Annabelle nodded in excitement, her ponytail bouncing. "Yep," she said, smoothing out a piece of paper. It wasn't a map like Woodward had had, it was a list of times and destinations. Almost immediately, Martin snatched it over and examined it, holding it so that no one else could read it.

"Hey, stop hogging the sheet, Smartin," Cary said from the other side of the table.

Martin put down the sheet sheepishly. "Cary, I really don't like it when you call me that!"

Cary shrugged. "I'm sorry, Smartin. Let's just go cry about it."

The two continued to bicker while Alice, who had gained control of the piece of paper, smoothed it out in the middle of the table for all to see. Leah leaned over, her long hair brushing the table. She pushed it over her shoulder impatiently as Charles began to speak.

"So it says that our train…" he paused, his fingers tracing the small black and white print. "Left Kansas at four fifty four AM, stopped once in Missouri at twelve oh seven PM, picked something up from Kentucky before passing through Lillian."

Joe narrowed his eyes, still scanning the page. "It's destination was… Virginia." He said, finished Charles's thought.

"What's in Virginia?" Leah wondered aloud.

Preston began ticking off towns. "Leesburg, Blacksburg, Vienna, Herndon –"

Alice looked up suddenly, her eyes meeting Joes. "Washington DC."

"Technically, that's not in Virginia, it's its own little county," Martin said, breaking off his argument with Cary.

Annabelle rolled her eyes. "It's close enough, Martin!"

"And that could explain why Woodward wanted to stop it," Cary said suddenly.

"How?" Leah asked skeptically.

Cary opened his mouth to reply, but Charles beat him to it. "Because it could have contained a dangerous weapon! Maybe they were bomb testing down in Kansas, and they were delivering them to the capital-"

"Wouldn't Woodward have risked setting the bomb off in the crash?" Alice pointed out. "It doesn't make any sense."

"No, Charles could be on to something!" Joe exclaimed animatedly. "Maybe it had some dangerous, top secret spy gaget or piece of information or something that was too dangerous to be in the hands of the government!"

"Are you saying we shouldn't trust the government?" Preston said, sounding faint.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Martin declared.

At that moment, the waitress arrived. She placed the burger and fries in front of Charles while trying to sneak a peek at the schedule, no doubt curious what they were up too.

Annabelle subtly tucked the paper away, and the waitress smiled before walking away.

"She needs to mind her own business," Leah muttered while Cary grabbed at Charles's fries, resulting in a protestation from Charles.

"I paid for these, Cary!" He complained.

Alice leaned forward. "So what do we think that Woodward thought was too dangerous to be in the hands of the government?"

"Maybe it's something that has to do with biology? Because he teaches that." Preston proposed.

"Yeah, like a mutant plant or something," Cary said through a mouthful of fries.

"Cary, this isn't a joking matter!" Martin all but shouted. "If there was something on that train that was dangerous enough for Woodward to want to drive into it head on, we could be in danger!"

"He could just have been committing suicide, you know," Leah pointed out.

"Come on, where's the fun in that?" Annabelle said, brushing off Leah's suggestion. "There had to have been a reason." Leah shrugged.

The waitress was back. "Can I get you anything more?"

Cary looked up. "Yeah, can we get some more fries? Because my friend here is fat." Charles responded with something unintelligible, but Leah bet her savings that it was something along the lines of, "Asshole!"

Leah turned to the waitress. "No thank you, we're good," she said sweetly while shooting a glare at Cary, who shrugged, as if to say, _it's true_.

"SO!" Annabelle said loudly, trying to pull the group together again. "What we need to do is figure out what was on that train."

"How do we do that?" Charles scoffed. "It's not like we can go back in time or anything."

Martin looked thoughtful. "If we could go back in time, we could stop Woodward from colliding with the train in the first place, and therefore we wouldn't have been put through that traumatic experience and wouldn't be in this situation in the first place!"

"Well, for one thing, we can't go back in time," Leah said flatly.

"And for another," Annabelle followed up, "This makes our summer so much more interesting!"

"What if I don't want an interesting summer?" Preston said. "I'd be perfectly fine just sitting indoors right now, not having to worry about if we can trust our government, or why our biology teacher committed suicide –"

"Wait!" Alice exclaimed. "How do we even know that Woodward is dead?"

The group all exchanged glances. "Well, the fact that he was in a head-on collision with a _train _might point to that," Charles said.

"But did we ever see him die?" Alice pressed.

"Well, we couldn't really stick around, considering he threatened to kill us," Cary said sarcastically.

"No, guys, Alice is on to something!" Annabelle said, sounding excited. "He could be in the hospital right now, full of answers to our questions!"

"What are you saying, exactly?" Joe asked slowly.

"I think," Leah said, "that we should check out the recent additions to the hospital."

"And maybe go back to the site of the explosion," Annabelle proposed.

Martin blanched. "Are you crazy! I never want to go back there again?"

"Grow a pear, Smartin," Cary said. "I think we can handle it."

"So it's decided," Leah said. "We'll check out the hospital, then go to the train wreck."

There were a few half-hearted protestations, but in the end, everyone, even Alice, agreed that it had to be done. Charles quickly paid for his food, and they headed out.


End file.
